It’s a busy day in this post-holiday Monday, with the entertainment industry back up and rolling, and as such there’s been a few casting announcements of interest:

– Reported to have been in discussions for a few months now, Scarlett Johansson has officially signed on for the lead in the upcoming adaptation of Ghost in the Shell. The popular manga by Masamune Shirow has seen a few different adaptations (including a pretty great anime from 1995), but this is the first live-action incarnation of the tale of Major Motoko Kusanagi: a covert ops specialist with the Japanese Public Safety Commission, who is made up of a cybernetic body while maintaining a human soul.

Johansson has been on an incredible hot streak lately with big box office drawing roles in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Luc Besson’s Lucy, and critically hailed work in Jonathan Glazer’s existential alien story Under The Skin. Her only reported competition for the role was Margot Robbie, but that likely went out the window once she signed on to play Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad.

Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders will helm this upcoming Dreamworks release, which looks like it will finally take off after being in limbo for around five years.

– In small-screen news, Mark Margolis, who you’ll most likely recognize as Hector Salamanca in Breaking Bad, has signed on for the first live action incarnation of Felix Faust on an upcoming episode of NBC’s Constantine. Here’s the episode description:

CHAS FACES A PARENT’S WORST NIGHTMARE — MARK MARGOLIS GUEST STARS AS ‘FELIX FAUST’ — Thousands of people across Brooklyn have slipped into a mysterious coma, including Chas’ (Charles Halford) daughter. John (Matt Ryan) must find and defeat the evil behind it before it consumes the city. Angélica Celaya also stars.

Faust is one of the most powerful mystics in the DC Universe, so its exciting to see Constantine start to embrace more and more of these concepts and characters.

Entertainment Editor for The Beat covering film, television and the occasional comic book. His work can also be found at GeekRex.com and can be heard on the GeekRex podcast. Also, your go-to Grant Morrison/Love & Rockets/Hellboy/Legion of Super-Heroes expert.